Second girls’ school in month blown up in South Waziristan

PESHAWAR: In yet another blow to girls’ education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, militants blew up a portion of a girls’ school in a village of Wana tehsil of South Waziristan on Friday.

There was no loss of life reported in the overnight attack, but one room of the facility was heavily damaged making it the second attack just a week after another one was targeted similarly in the South Waziristan district.

The Sofia Noor School, established with support from the Wana Welfare Association for the girls of the remote and underdeveloped district a few weeks back was blown.

An official of the association said the academy was inaugurated on March 20. He regretted that the school being built to spread literacy among girls in the backward region was bombed.

Local publication said, the official continued that he was unaware of the motive behind the attack, but rued that some elements in the region were against girls’ education. According to police, an investigation was underway about the explosion.

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A senior member of the Wana Welfare Association in Peshawar told AFP that, “About a month ago, we received a letter from a militant group demanding a specific portion of our funding. A few days later, another letter was thrown into our office, demanding a payment of 10 million rupees ($36,000).”

“Following that, we started receiving threatening calls from Afghan numbers, demanding extortion money,” he added, asking not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He alleged school administration was told demands were coming from local Taliban fractions.

“We made numerous attempts to reach out to these militant groups locally but were unsuccessful,” he said. A district government official told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that Taliban factions are extorting local traders in the area.

“Those who refuse to pay are targeted, with their homes damaged or themselves killed,” he told AFP. “He said several traders have been kidnapped and murdered in the past couple of years.”

Earlier this month, a girls’ school was blown up by unidentified attackers in the Shewa Tehsil of North Waziristan.

The country’s north-western region has remained gripped by terror attacks since mid-2021, impacting several girls’ schools in districts across KP.